Swordsman of Future's Past
by Gilded Shadow Phoenix
Summary: ...Well, that was anticlimactic. The world ended, and someone needs to go back in time to prevent that from happening again, but who? ...so I hear there's this one guy... Mix of Anime and Light Novels. Kirito/Asuna, among others. *First fic.* Constructive criticism, please!


**Chapter 1.1:** The World of Swords, Again?!

 **Summary:**...Well, that was anticlimactic. The world ended, and someone needs to go back in time to prevent that from happening again, but who? ...There IS this one guy... Mix of Anime, Light Novels, Abridged. Kirito/Asuna *First fic.* Constructive criticism please!

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 **Not at all mandatory Disclaimer:** Sword Art Online belongs to A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA,and Reki Kawahara. Please support the official release. Seriously, this only exists _because_ there's an official release. This disclaimer is actually pointless, you know.  
For any copyright lawyers out there, fanfiction .net already has a bunch of legal stuff and disclaimers in place. Look on the website for the stuff, and at the same time, thank you for honoring my story with your presence. For every other reader out there, for more details, TV Tropes has a page going into exhaustive detail on this topic. Look there, preferably _after_ you've read this chapter, it _will_ be linked at the bottom. (1)  
Thank you, and enjoy.

This is the only time this disclaimer will appear in the work.

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 **Argo the Rat's Guide to Reading this Fanfic:**

"Kirito?!" - Talking

 _Kayaba..._ \- Thoughts

[Sheeptar the Sheep King] - Sword Skills, Locations, recognized Titles (Guild names, Player titles)

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 **In the beginning... yadda, yadda, yadda, ...flash-forward to** ―

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 **November 6th, 2022:**

" _Link, start!"_ -Quite Literally Every SAO Player Ever

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 _13:00_

[Floor 1: Town of Beginnings]

"I'm back in this world...again..." _I have to figure out how to stop **that**_ _from happening, ...aaaand I have no plan. Damn it. Well, I can't do anything without a weapon, so I guess I'll start with that... Now, where was that shop..._ The messy haired teen runs through the bustling streets so jam-packed with players, to get a starting weapon from one of the weapons shops.

* * *

"Hey, you there!" A red haired man exclaims, catching the teen's attention. "You move like you've done this before. You're a beta tester, aren't you?"

 _Oh, hey, it's Klein..._ "Yeah...?" The beta tester answers, waving his hand in a 'get-on-with-it' manner,knowing where things are going.

"Today's my first day. Show me the basics, okay?" The excitable redhead requests.

 _Just like the first time…eh, I didn't exactly have any other plans._ "Sure."

"The name's Klein."

"I'm Kirito." At that, something appears to click in the redhead's mind.

"Wait... Kirito. Ki-ri-to, Kii-rii-tooo… Kirito. Ehhhh?!"

"What?" Kirito says as he stares back at Klein with a confused expression.

"Kirito? What happened? Why are we _back in SAO_?"

 _Wait, back? So it wasn't just me…_ *sigh* _I'm not even sure whether to be relieved or not..._

"Let's go out to the fields and start grinding, I'll explain on the way."

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[Floor 1: Town of Beginnings, Western Fields]

"Yeah, so, it's like that."

 _"Squeee!"_

"Ow, my crotch!"

"Seriously, man? Remember? No pain? How do you think you survived all of those rejections the first time around?"

"Oh, shut up. That's a low blow, man. Besides, it's been a while."

"Klein, we beat the final boss on the final floor of _this very castle_ in [ALO] _just last week_...as far as I remember... man, time travel is _weird..._ "

"Ain't that the truth..."

"Anyway, that is, quite literally, the lamest excuse I've ever heard, but, for what it's worth, here's the tutorial: motion input."

At this, Kirito picks up a rock, pulls back his arm, and once the rock begins glowing, fires it at another [Wild Boar] in the area. The creature squeals in pain and runs at Kirito, who strikes at it with a [Linear], causing it to shatter into glittering polygons.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Showoff. You probably just got lucky and picked up the [Mighty Pebble of Pig Smiting]―" Klein scoffs. "I don't know _where_ you got _that_ idea from, but you can do it with any rock, I'll even show you―" "―But remember, I led a guild through this entire mess, got them all out in one piece, and I fought against many Floor Bosses with you, Mr. [Black Swordsman]. I know how to fight just fine."

"Sure you do... But about that…"

"What, the [Black Swordsman] thing?"

"Not really, more llike the whole _'knowing the future'_ thing. How do we go about using that knowledge? It's almost like one of those movies, if we act too quickly, and change too many things, the info we have starts becoming useless, yet at the same time, if we _don't_ act fast enough..."

"You ended this game the first time around, didn't you? And as you said, we beat it again 'just last week'. It'll be fine! Of course, as fine as a death game can be, all things considered..." At this, Klein, with his curved blade glowing red, slices the little blue creature that knocked him down just moments before, with a [Reaver] causing it to shatter into glowing polygons. "I can't wait until I get a katana again. This sword feels so _simple_ , so _weak…_ "A notification appears. "Oooh, hey, first drop!"

Klein swipes down with his right hand, and opens his menu, accidentally going to his Skills menu. "Wait… How do I have all my skills? Oy, Kirito! I thought even beta testers started fresh!"

Kirito starts at this. "They do!" _He has all of his skills? Let's see…_ He swipes with his right hand and goes to his own Skills menu.

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Skills:(2)

[One-handed Sword] 100/1000

[Parry] 100/1000

[Dual Blades] 100/1000

[Martial Arts] 99/1000

[Blade Throwing] 97/1000

[Battle Healing] 94/1000

[Searching] 100/1000

[Hiding] 100/1000

[Sprint] 87/1000

[Extended Weight Limit] 95/1000

[First Aid] 60/1000

[Fishing] 64/1000

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 _This isn't a coincidence, someone or something is directly interfering with the system… Kayaba maybe? There's literally no way I could've had [Dual Blades], let alone all of these other skills, this quickly otherwise… But how did I get these exact ones? Is it somehow like [ALO] all over again? Even if that's the case, and my save data managed to travel through time, why aren't the skill levels higher? I definitely maxed out some of them!_

"What are the odds that the others are like this too?" Klein inquires in a light tone, as he closes his menu, though some surprise and worry filters through.

"What are we talking about here, memories, skills, or both? Because honestly, with what we know now, I have no clue, but let's go with 'pretty high'..." Kirito admits, nervousness and frustration mounting with the knowledge of what he is about to get thrown into. "Speaking of guilds..."

"Oh, come on, Kirito. I know you're _still_ cut up about the first time around, but really, don't worry about this time. As I said, I've done this before, and I can do it again," Klein replies as he swipes at a boar.

"No, I know _that_ , it's just... *sigh* You remember the first guild I was with?" Kirito responds, slicing through the boar's head with a [Horizontal], causing it to shatter.

"...Right… If you meet them again, don't be afraid to message me and my guys, we can help you train them."

Both stand there, reminiscing over the darkest Christmas yet to come.

"Well, let's keep at it. It's only 14:30 right now, so we have a few hours to figure out how we're going to proceed."

"So, you take the right half, I'll take the left? Or..."

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 _17:30_

"Well, that was fun, we even got to level two already!" Klein states while stretching, "But for now, I'm just gonna log out and get some… Right… death game… My pizza! Damn it!" Klein furiously swipes down and scrolls through the main menu. At the lack of a logout button, he exhales harshly. "Well, this shit just got real..."

"Yep, told you." With a frown on his face, Kirito starts glowing a light blue as a bell rings. "Hey, do you feel tingly, all of a sudden?" Klein starts glowing as well. "No. Not really, why do you-"

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[Floor 1: Town of Beginnings, Central Plaza]

"-ask?"

"Oh, no reason," Kirito replies almost casually, right eye twitching as, unbidden, memories from a past present come to mind.

"So... 'tutorial'?"

"Yep."

In bursts of light, more people keep coming in, the plaza begins approaching full capacity, and then suddenly, the sky is filled with red hexagons with the word [Warning], forming a dome over the plaza. Red begins oozing through the hexagons, into the form of a giant faceless avatar in a red robe, clearly a GM.

 _Kayaba...  
_

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(1) tvtropes org /pmwiki /pmwiki /Main /IDoNotOwn (remove spaces and add dots for link as necessary)

(2) Why not? It has plot relevance. Stats are 10% of what was as of ALO/end of SAO. Kirito's stats taken from the section on the SAO wikia. Assume the same for any other characters brought back for whom such info exists, except Heathcliff/Kayaba. He's God, and his stats will reflect that, as far as SAO is concerned.

Thanks for reading, please review, and if you really like the fic, follow/favorite it.

All the best.

~Gilded Shadow Phoenix

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09/5/2016: v1.1 Uploaded


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